Being vegan can be a challenge for dessert lovers when traveling, at family functions, or birthday parties. It’s not very common that people are making cakes that happen to be vegan or that you can find vegan soft serve or doughnuts as easily as their non-vegan counterparts. However, once you step into the world of Vegan Treats that all fades away.

Vegan Treats is well known by many vegans in the Northeast. Their decadent desserts can be found in establishments and restaurants in the PA/NJ/NY area. If one gets the chance to make the pilgrimage to the storefront in Bethlehem, PA, it will be everything one can do to not buy everything in the place. There are adorable mini cakes, perfect for one person that make the sampling so much more fun and dangerous for your sweet tooth! They have many baked doughnut varieties and I swear their chocolate covered doughnut is reminiscent of Entenmann’s Rich Frosted Donuts. Ah, it brings back childhood memories!

Chocolate covered doughnuts

Since finding vegan doughnuts is such a rare treat, I couldn’t stop with just the chocolate. I indulged myself with their cookies and cream filled doughnut and a sugar vanilla doughnut (not sure of the proper name, as I just kept pointing to what looked good when I ordered)!

Cookies & Cream filled doughnut

I’m also in love with their soy-based vegan soft serve. They have two varieties at a time which allows you to indulge in a twist, if that’s your thing. One of the highlights of my most recent trip was their chocolate and cake batter twist. There was a slight salty flavor to the cake batter, which made it a perfect complement to the chocolate.

Chocolate & Cake Batter Swirl

Since we were on our way to a family birthday party, I had to bring a cake to share. Just looking at their Peanut Butter Tandy cake (a throwback to Tastykake’s Kandy/Tandy Cakes), I knew I had to have it. It was described by my relatives as a cake unlike any other they’ve ever had. It was easily one of the best cakes I have ever eaten, probably in part, because of my own love of Tandy Kakes growing up. The layering of chocolate cake, peanut butter, and everything in between made it heavenly.

Peanut Butter Tandy Cake

Our trip to Vegan Treats was topped off with a most pleasant surprise. We were asked at checkout if we wanted to fill out a short survey from VegNews Magazine, with Vegan Treats as a contender to win Best Vegan Bakery. As a lover of VegNews and food-related surveys, I agreed to take it. To thank me at the end, they gave me this rare chocolate dipped Speculoos filled cookie. For those who aren’t familiar with Speculoos, it’s a yummy, European based spiced shortbread biscuit, made even more popular by their spreads. On a family vacation last year to France, I had the pleasure of finally trying this amazing, already vegan delight! Highly recommended.

One of the many perks about being in the Natural Kitchen Cooking School was the healthy and delicious snacks the staff would have out for us to munch on in between doing food prep or listening to a nutrition lecture. We always had delicious herbal teas, some of my favorites being genmaicha (brown rice) tea or Japanese twig tea, along with some amazing dips, hummus, corn chips, etc. to delight in.

One day, one of the cooking assistants brought in this amazing guacamole (but much chunkier, thus the bruschetta label) that her daughter had made. It disappeared quickly as we dipped corn tortillas in it. The recipe was listed in Vegetarian Times and it is simply amazing! Guacamole with a super kick! The only change I’d make in the future is to reduce the amount of olive oil the recipe calls for. Other than that, it’s all systems go!

Avocado Chimichurri Bruschetta

Overall, I’d rate this recipe a 4 1/2 out of 5 carrots on the veganlicious scale!

I’m always pleasantly surprised when I find mainstream chefs highlighting vegetables in their recipes, and particularly when their dishes are “accidentally” vegan. Some pre-vegans like to think they don’t eat vegan meals or sometimes scoff at the idea that there isn’t any meat or animal by-product in an entree, when in fact people eat “vegan” food all of the time. Do you like eating bananas? Hummus? Rice and beans? Bam, they are vegan, y’all!

In my search for a simple green bean recipe to use up a batch I received in my CSA recently, I found this very easy recipe by Rachael Ray and Elsa Scuderi from the Food Network. I was impressed that there was only a handful of ingredients, with nothing too exotic. Anyone can make this as a nice side dish to an entree of their choice.

Green Bean Salad with Red Onion & Tomato

Overall, we’d rate this dish 3 out of 5 carrots on the veganlicious scale!

One night in the not-too-distant past, I asked my husband to make dinner. He was on his own completely to make something using the ingredients in our refrigerator from our CSA that week. He came up with a menu of quinoa tofu stuffed peppers from the Savvy Vegetarian and this simple corn off the cob with tomato & basil salad from the NY Times. Not only was I pleasantly surprised by the creativity, but I was also impressed with the great taste and mouth feel of these dishes. I have never thought to have corn, fresh from the cob, as its own base for a salad. I also rarely think to stuff peppers, but am always grateful for a creative, meatless stuffed pepper dish.

Quinoa tofu stuffed yellow pepperQuinoa tofu stuffed red pepper

Corn off the cob salad with tomato and basil

My husband liked both of these dishes but really loved the corn off the cob salad! He rated the salad a strong 4 1/2 carrots and the stuffed peppers around 3 1/2 carrots.
The overall rating for this meal is 4 out of 5 carrots on the veganlicious scale!

Wanting a quick, but tasty and healthy dinner one night, I decided to throw together some white beans, sauteed spinach, and sweet potato with some garnishes and sauces and came up with this creation. It was a wonderful combination and the cilantro, salsas, and sour cream helped to finish out the flavors.

This can be made with any variety of cooked white beans. I used navy beans in this recipe but cannellini beans work nice as well. Warm your tortillas and add the spinach, white beans, and sweet potato slices. Add cilantro, sour cream, and salsas and wrap tightly. Garnish the top with cilantro and serve immediately.